The phoenix flying over the gym bleachers at Del Lago Academy in Escondido is an example of the graphic arts skills that students can learn at the science magnet, and an effort to build tradition at the 4-year-old high school.

The mural portrays the school’s mascot, the firebird, in vibrant shades of teal with fiery orange accents, and will include the school’s name and mottos in text beside it.

For Aled Anaya, the graphic design and digital arts teacher who planned and painted the mural, the project is also a way of contributing to the school district where he was educated.

“To me, this is very special, having been born and raised in Escondido,” said Anaya, a graduate of Escondido High School. “To have something that could possibly be permanent in the high school gym is me giving back to the community and this district.”

Anaya worked over the summer with the help of student volunteers to paint the mural, which greeted students returning to campus Wednesday. Another instructor, Soudabeh Memarzadeh, had created the logo of a colorful, stylized phoenix and Anaya rendered it in giant form on the 26-by-62-foot gymnasium wall.

During the first week of school, he’ll wrap that up, adding the name “Del Lago Firebirds,” along with the school’s five pillars, which state: “Do no Harm,” “Welcome,” “Be your Best,” “Choice of Words,” and “Never too Late to Learn.”

The mural is a step toward establishing school traditions at Del Lago Academy Campus of Applied Science, which opened as a biomedical magnet school in Escondido Union High School District in 2013.

Ruth Hellams, who stepped in as interim principal after the original principal, Keith Nuthall, left last month, said the school has been working hard to make its mark.

“They already have done a tremendous amount of work developing (school) culture,” she said.

That starts with students’ introduction to the school’s “five pillars,” which guide their conduct and studies, she said. It continues through a program in which upper classmen orient incoming freshmen to the campus and keep in touch with them throughout the school year.

Another element of the school’s identity is its professional internships program. For six weeks in the second semester of their junior year, Hellams said students interned two days per week at organizations including Palomar Medical Center, the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum, the City of Escondido, Boys & Girls Club and other organizations or businesses. The experiences, officials say, open their eyes to job opportunities and draw the connection between school and career.

For Anaya, that progression came naturally. He graduated in 2009 from Escondido High School, where he first learned graphic and printing techniques in a career education classes. There he became intrigued by the process of rendering sketches or drawings into digital form, and “being involved in the creative process from start to finish.”

After graduation, he went to work in the graphics industry, and was later hired in the print shop for the high school district. In his spare time, he began volunteering with a graphics class at Orange Glen High School and was soon hired as a teaching assistant and then recommended for a teaching position at the school.

He obtained a specialized career education teaching credential based on his work experience in the graphics field, and is currently completing the college coursework required for the position.

Meanwhile, he had begun painting murals for community organizations. At Chicano Park in Barrio Logan, he completed a mural of three Aztec deities, in keeping with the park’s focus on Mesoamerican history. He is also painting a butterfly-themed piece at the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum in Escondido. Anaya hopes the firebird mural will contribute to a sense of school spirit at the fledgling campus.

“I think it will help with that athletic culture that the school had been missing,” he said. “It is a new school, and with new schools you have to work toward creating the identity and culture.”